Jihadists, not Assad, apparently behind reported chemical attack in Syria | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
Intelligence reports suggest jihadists among the Syria rebels have technical know-how to produce chemical warheads.
Was the first use of chemical weapons in the Syrian civil war carried out by rebel forces fighting against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad?
The mysterious explosion last Tuesday near the city of Aleppo, which killed 26 people and wounded dozens, was swiftly labeled by Western intelligence agencies as a chemical incident perpetrated by forces loyal to Assad.
U.S. President Barack Obama was even asked during a press conference in Israel whether the incident would change his administration’s non-intervention policy on Syria. But as more information passes, a different picture is beginning to emerge. The explosion claimed the lives of Syrian Armed Forces soldiers who are apparently loyal to Assad, and the Syrian government was quick to demand an international investigation of the incident.
These two facts would indicate that Assad’s forces were not behind the attack.